The Touch of Fear
by HopelessRomantic1994
Summary: On their way to the annual Halloween Party, Mal, Natara and Kai find themselves on a road to nowhere. Stranded in the dark with no way out can even the bravest members of the SFPD...and Kai survive the night?


**Happy Halloween Deathicated! Here is a oneshot in honor of Halloween hope you like it! Sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes, I think I got them all! :)**

* * *

The night sat silent, lifeless and cold. The dark smothering everything it touched. A full moon whispered to the demons in the shadows as the ghostly clouds dragged themselves through the sky, swallowing every ounce of light that dared to shine. A single bright light screamed from the distance frightening away the twisted shadows that lurked within the poisonous darkness.

As the car rushed through the night, Natara sat quietly resting her arm on the door watching the sights at they flew passed the window. Her eyes wondered to Mal as he checked his overhead mirror before turning to face her.

"How much longer?"

Glancing down at her wrist she pulled back her sleeve to check her watch.

"The hotel should be about twenty minutes away if the directions Blaise gave us are correct."

"Well I'm starting to wonder if we took a wrong turn somewhere, feels like we've been driving for hours."

"Tell me about it! I'm almost bored to death back here!"

Mal rolled his eyes as Kai's head appeared from behind the front seat. Letting out a sigh he shifted slightly in his seat, his grip tightening around the steering wheel.

"We'll get there when we get there Kai. Just be quiet, the deal was I let you hitch a ride with me and Nat to the Halloween party and you stay silent for the whole journey!"

"Heh right. No problem."

Natara smirked slightly as Kai ducked back into his seat, the car quickly falling silent again. She turned her attention back towards the window. Her eyes darting from tree to tree as they speed down the road. Letting out a sigh it caught in her throat as she sat back with the dawning realization that it had been a while since they'd seen any sign of civilization. Her concerns were confirmed when Mal glanced back at the GPS several times before his face fell.

"Problem?"

"Yeah…The GPS isn't working, it's frozen."

He tapped the screen but nothing changed. Raising an eyebrow he rapidly tapped it again before returning his attention back to the road.

"According to the screen it stopped working just after we got out of the city."

"So are you saying you don't know where we are?"

"Well not anymore no."

"Uh oh."

A small whimper fills the car as Natara glanced into the back seat. Confusion flooded her face when she saw the look of terror in his Kai's eyes.

"What's up Kai?"

"This is how it starts!"

Mal's eyes shot up to meet Kai's as he looked at him with deep confusion through his mirror.

"How what starts?"

"The start of every horror movie ever made! First the car battery will die then it'll stat to rain, forcing us to find shelter in a creepy motel in the middle of nowhere. Where throughout the night a crazy psycho serial killer will pick us off one by one until only one survives, forced to live with the tragedy and fear of it all. Only then to reveal the huge plot twist that it was all in fact a dream and one of us turns out to actually be a ghost."

Mal and Natara both glanced to one another, each with the same burning skepticism in their eyes. Natara turned back to Kai as she tried to find the right words in response to his irrational theory.

"Kai…I'm quite concern that you don't have to worry about that happening. We're just a little lost that's all. We'll find our way to the hotel eventually."

Kai sat with folded arms and a look of uncertainty in his narrowed eyes.

"See It's already started; you're the skeptical, logical one that tries to explain everything… They usually don't last very long."

Natara couldn't help but scoff as she sat back into her seat, her eyes again wondering towards the window watching the never ending darkness fly back. Kai's words floated through her mind the more she tried to convince herself that nothing was out of the ordinary. Her train of thought was abruptly interrupted as she felt herself gently being jolted forward. Mal groaned and cursed under his breath as the car's battery gave out, losing momentum as it slowly rolled to a halt by the side of the road.

"What happened?"

"Damn battery died! I don't get it, I had it checked out a couple weeks ago they said everything was fine!"

"It's already started!"

Mal scoffed as he opened his door and stepped out of the car. Popping the hood of the car, he checked over the engine and battery before stepping back to join Natara stood by the edge of the road.

"What's the problem?"

"I have no idea, there's nothing wrong with the car."

Natara fell silent rubbing her arms to fight the chilling night breeze as Mal pulled his cell phone from his pocket, extending his arm in order to get a signal.

"I got nothing. How about you?"

To her disappointment Natara also found that her cell phone had no signal as she shook her head and placed it back into her pocket.

"Well we can't stay here all night. Maybe we could walk back."

"Walk? I thought you had no idea where we were."

"True but if we find somewhere that I can get signal, I can figure it out and get us home."

Natara considered Mal's proposal for a second, while her eyes searched the area for any sign of a town or city. There was no doubt about it, they were well and truly lost and standing around wasn't going to help them get back home.

"Alright lead on. We'll leave Kai with the car and-"

"No you won't!"

Both Mal and Natara flinched at the sound of Kai's voice. He stumbled out of the car quickly closing the door behind him as he rushed to stand with the two by the side of the road.

"There is no way I am staying here alone!"

"Well we need to find a way back to the city Kai."

"Then I'm coming with you."

Mal opened his mouth to argue but quickly gave in, throwing his arms up in defeat as they fell by his side.

"You know what fine. Come on let's get moving because I am not standing here arguing all night."

As they began following the road back the way they came, Mal's eyes held a look of uncertainty as he glanced once final time at his abandoned car before they left it to be claimed by the night.

* * *

The hours excruciatingly crawled by to the point that they began to think they were walking in circles. Mal and Natara stayed close together while Kai plodded behind with his arms wrapped around himself to protect himself from the cold. The three paused as Mal pointed to a path off the side of the road.

"What'd you bet that path leads back to the city?"

"You want to take a short cut…through the woods…in the middle of the night….ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Natara laughed as she turned to face Kai, the terror in his eyes now flooding to his face and body as he shook in fear.

"Come on Kai. It'll be fine."

"Nope, I am not going in there!"

"Kai Nat and I have faced dozens of serial killers. Real serial killers, not like the kind in your little teen horror movies! Trust me you'll be fine, now come on."

Mal and Natara didn't wait for a reply as they ventured off down the path that led through the woods. Kai hesitated for a minute, the night seemed to come alive with whispers that made your heart stop and blood run cold. Taking one last look at the dead road that stretched into the night, he let out a deep sigh of defeat before following Mal and Natara deep into the woods.

* * *

The forest seemed to never end; tall silhouettes shadowing the ground, birds circling overhead, and screams echoing through the wind. With only the sound of their footsteps against the dark sodden floor to keep them company, they continued on through the trees.

With fear and apprehension running high everyone stepped with caution. Kai flinched at every sound he heard. His heartbeat echoing in his ears as his breathing became heavy and strained.

"Okay anybody else find this place creepy or is it just me?"

The feeling of a presence lurked in the atmosphere as Mal's hand instinctively brushed against the gun by his side.

"No you're not the only one Kai. I've got a bad feeling about this place."

"Oh really? Well I wonder whose brilliant idea it was to take a short cut through the creepy woods in the middle of the night? Oh that's right…it was you! If anything jumps out on us I hope it eats you first!"

"Thank you for that Kai…come on I'm sure if we keep moving we'll find away out of here soon."

Mal took hold of Natara's hand as the three push on forward through the dense forest as the night's lost souls watched from the tree tops. The approaching sound of trickling water drew them towards an idle stream that branched out to a small murky lake. All three turned their noses up at the horrid odour of decomposing flesh. By the edge of the lake the carcass of a dead deer lay still, blood staining the autumn leaves as the crimson liquid snaked through the cracks in the ground.

"Oh god."

Reluctantly Kai kneeled down by the deer's side as his eyes scanned the body before slowly rose to his feet.

"This kill was recent. Can't tell the cause of death though, poor little guy was torn to pieces. Guys I don't know about you but I am officially creep out!"

"Kai relax... it was probably killed by a wolf or something, it happens all the time. We just have too-"

Natara's words were cut short by a blood curdling scream, it seemed to be coming from every direction as it echoed with the hissing wind. It howled viciously blowing a bitter wind passed the dying trees, taking a hold of them and pushing back. It danced with the leaves dragging them away unwillingly from the autumn ground, Mal narrowed his eyes as he covered his face from the harsh cold that scratched at his skin with its icy claws. The scream sounded again only closer this time, its high pitched tone enough to make your ears bleed. Looking around he couldn't make out the source of the sound. They appeared to be alone, not another soul in sight. That was until he noticed the footsteps in the mud round them. Taking a step forward his stomach twisted when he saw that the footsteps seemed to circle around them. Without another word he quickly grabbed both Natara and Kai as they took off further through the woods.

They darted passed the trees that almost seemed to be reaching out to grab them. The sound of shuffling footsteps stomped close behind them, the screams echoing again. They continued running, the sound of their heavy panicked breaths weighing on their chests along with the speed of their racing hearts. They froze on the spot as they stood together all panting to catch their lost breath. They paced in circles, desperately seeking a way out their nightmare.

"Mal we need to find a way out of this place!"

"Yeah I know! But which way is out?"

"We'll cut through the woods he said, we'll be fine he said! Well now we're gonna be ripped to shreds just like that poor little deer and no one will be able to find our bodies and we'll-"

"Not helping Kai! Look we'll try to find a light source that way it'll lead us to the edge of the woods and-"

Mal paused as he flinched at the sudden sound of heavy breathing. It sounded forced, intimidating. With wide eyes he glanced at both Natara and Kai that stood with same look of terror that he had.

"Guys please tell me that's you making that noise."

A lump appeared in Mal's throat as the two slowly shook their heads. He slowly turned to find nothing there, suddenly blinking as he felt something drip down his cheek. Reaching up he wiped his face to find a single drop of blood smeared across his skin and it definitely wasn't his. Grunting in disgust he pulled his sleeve down rapidly wiping his face clean. The moon's light was smothered by the grey clouds as they were once again left in complete darkness.

Natara inched towards Mal as she checked over his face for any visible cuts before firmly taking his hand. He could feel her trembling as he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. She offered a ghost of a smile in return.

The wind screamed again, taunting them with its harsh whispers. Within the chilling howls and screeches the sound of a distant voice hissed in their ears causing them to take off again.

"_Run…"_

They struggled through the dying woodland, the mud seeming to pull them down into the ground as if to swallow them whole. Their legs screamed in pain, their lungs burning with every breath they took. The night's darkness made it impossible to see where they were heading as they felt the fatigue creeping up on them. Stumbling through the thick brambles they finally made it out to find another road. It sat silent and still, the dark suddenly dying out as a flood of headlights flew towards them from the distance. The car screeched as the driver quickly braked to a sudden halt. The three stood frozen almost paralyzed with fear as they watched the driver step out from the car. Collectively letting out a deep sigh of relief as Blaise stepped out of the car with Jeremy and Amy jumping out of the back.

Kai practically pounced on her, squeezing her close in a tight hug.

"Blaise you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

Blaise pried Kai away from her, sending him a silent warning within her glare.

"If you ever hug me like that again I will have to pound you! Where the hell have you guys been anyway?"

Mal and Natara shared the same uneasy glance before looking back to Blaise.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you."

"Well we've been looking for you us for hours."

"Well we were on our way to the party and-"

"Wait what? The party was cancelled. I sent you text about it hours ago."

Mal paused as he saw the serious look in Blaise' eyes.

"What…No you sent me a text before we left, saying that you were on your way and with a map to get us there."

"What map?"

Mal pulled out his phone with trembling hands and scrolled through his messages before handing the phone to Blaise.

"What the hell? Mal I never sent you this. I don't even know where this map came from."

"But-"

"Come on I'll drive you guys back to the city. Drinks are on me, you look like you could use it after whatever night you've had. The three of you look like you've seen a ghost."

"Yeah... something like that."

They all piled into the car leaving the night behind as they drove back to the city. As the chilling winds picked up again and howled to the full sparkling moon. They failed notice the dark figure standing within the trees watching them with hallowed eyes and a twisted grin because after all…how can you notice me when I'm the one hiding in the shadows.

Happy Halloween.


End file.
